Los Angeles County's employment stimulus program. Later, it's AirTalk on-the-road from the California Endowment in Downtown LA. What choices do families face in end-of-life care, and at what cost to society?
LA County program creates thousands of local jobs
Despite hopeful signs that the recession is ending, unemployment remains in the double digits. At 12.4%, California’s jobless rate is the highest in the country. In his State of the Union Speech, President Obama promised to focus more on job creation, igniting a debate about how best to do that. Meanwhile, a little-known employment stimulus program in Los Angeles County succeeded in reaching a major milestone: Utilizing $160-million in federal stimulus funds, the County placed approximately 10,000 unemployed people in subsidized private, nonprofit and public sector jobs. Now, LA County hopes to extend the program. The short-term impact for participating employers and employees is tangible. But can programs like this stimulate the economy in the long run?
Guests:
More info about LA County’s Transitional Subsidized Employment Program
Brad Kemp, Director of Regional Research, Beacon Economics
Don Knabe, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Fourth District
Jan Vogel, Executive Director, South Bay Workforce Investment Board (SBWIB), in Hawthorne, they administer the Transitional Subsidized Employment (TSE) Program for LA County
Tina Carey, Director of Human Resources, Miyachi Unitek
End-of-life care: AirTalk on the road broadcast
One of the most difficult issues to emerge during the national debate on health reform is how to best care for people in the final stages of life. What kind of treatment should a dying person receive? Who ought to pay for this care? And how are these difficult decisions made? AirTalk goes on the road to explore the tough issues surrounding end-of-life care at The California Endowment.
Guests:
Alexander Capron, USC University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Law and Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine. He is also the co-director of the Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics at USC. Professor Capron's areas of expertise include bioethics, health care policy, access to health care, and the relationship between law and medicine.
Dr. Alexandra Levine (M.D., M.A.C.P.), Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Clinical Programs, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center. An internationally renowned expert in lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and AIDS-related malignancies, Levine oversees all clinical and hospital care programs, including quality of service, patient safety, clinical research, clinical information management and professional education. Levine was previously a distinguished professor and chair of the Division of Hematology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, and medical director of USC/Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital.
Dr. Robert Orr, Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. Dr. Orr is the co-author two books, co-editor of three others, and has contributed to 10 book chapters, and over 100 articles related to clinical ethics, the ethics consultation process, and issues in terminal care. He practiced family medicine in Vermont for 18 years where he was named Vermont Family Doctor of the Year in 1989. From 1990-2000 he was the Director of Clinical Ethics and Professor of Family Medicine at Loma Linda University in Southern California. He has chaired the Council on Ethical Affairs for the California Medical Association, and was Vice President of the American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities. He has served on the Ethics Commission of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations.
Kathryn Tucker, Director of Legal Affairs at Compassion and Choices, a national non-profit public interest organization “dedicated to improving end-of-life and expanding and protecting the rights of the terminally ill.” Ms. Tucker served as lead counsel representing patients and physicians in two landmark federal cases decided by the United States Supreme Court, asserting that mentally competent terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to choose aid in dying. Ms. Tucker argued the issue in the United States Supreme Court.